Reconnecting
by marykent
Summary: Oliver and Thea each had an item to remind themselves of one another during their five years of separation. Here, two companion pieces illustrate how the siblings dealt with the separation of time and begin to reconnect.
1. Chapter 1

Reconnecting

By MaryKent

Disclaimer: I don't own any aspect of Arrow the tv show. I do own an arrow. It's plastic.

Raisa dusted. She vacuumed. She polished the light fixtures. She freshened the bedding. For five years Raisa had cleaned Oliver's room. She honored the sweet little boy by cleaning his living space just as frequently as she cleaned the rest of the mansion, only today she would not have to lock the door to the room. Oliver had been found. He would finally be returning to the room she had kept clean and prepared in hopes that he would return.

* * *

Five long years ago, it was apparent that Oliver would not be returning to his room; however, Raisa kept it clean for Moira. Moira would grieve in Oliver's bedroom. She would stand at his window or near his bed for hours.

One day soon after Moira's wedding to Mr. Steele, Moira was walking through the mansion with Raisa discussing the preparations necessary for a reception. As Moira was about to leave she turned and looked at Raisa. With a firm but cold tone she said, "Oh, and Raisa, please continue to keep Oliver's room neat, but lock the door when you are done. I do not want anything to happen to his possessions."

"Yes ma'am," replied the maid.

And with a perfunctory nod, Moira left. And she never returned to Oliver's room.

Raisa arranged to have the staff complete all of Moira's requests for the reception. It would be a grand party; however, the request to care for the unoccupied bedroom upstairs was a more important task to the kindhearted maid. She watched Oliver grow up from a wide eyed young toddler to a rambunctious young man. The death of such a pure spirit was a grievous loss to the maid.

After lovingly running a dusting cloth along the knick-knacks and trinkets throughout the room, Raisa sighed and slipped out of the room. While brushing at a stray tear, she turned to slide the key into the lock.

Thea came down the hall at just that moment. "What are you doing?" asked the young girl. "Why can't I go in Oliver's room anymore?"

Raisa bent down to motherly hug the girl. With her arms wrapped around Thea she said, "You may visit Oliver's room anytime that you want Thea. But your mother wants the room to remain locked so that nothing inside the room will be disturbed. Would you like to take a look inside the room right now?"

Raisa felt Thea's head nod while she was still hugging the girl. If it were up to her, Oliver's door would remain unlocked so that Thea could continue to visit Oliver's room. However, Moira was determined that the family would reunite following her marriage to Mr. Steele. And this included accepting that no one needed access to Oliver's room.

After unlocking the door again, Raisa and Thea joined hands and walked into Oliver's room. Raisa spoke wistfully, "This is a lavish room for a young man. He needed more time to grow into its sophistication."

Thea traced the shelves lining the wall with her finger while admiring Oliver's books and baubles. In a small voice she whispered, "I miss him."

"Me too," responded Raisa.

Each of them contemplated Oliver until Thea spoke up. "Can I take this back to my room?" asked Thea who was holding an elegant brass statue that she removed from Oliver's bookshelf. "That way even when the door is locked I can have this with me?"

With a sad smile Raisa said, "Of course, Thea, you may take that with you. But keep it safe."

"Thanks," was Thea's simple reply.

* * *

The mansion looked just the same as it always had when Oliver arrived after years of absence. The imposing stone facade barely softened the landscaping and the massive front doors felt like a barricade. Oliver hoped that being with family inside would more comforting than the house itself.

"Your room is exactly as you left it. I never had the heart to change a thing," stated Moira as the two entered the house.

Oliver did not care about his room. He had not used anything from inside his room for five years. The items in it were hardly important now; he would rather familiarize himself with the people that filled the house, the people that made it a home. Walter Steele was not one of those people. But Raisa was a dear friend from his years growing up in the mansion.

"It's good to see you Raisa," said Oliver while holding back emotion. He stepped over to hold her hands. Her hands were warm and comforting and she smelled of fresh laundry, just as he remembered.

"Welcome home Mr. Oliver," responded Raisa with a large smile that lit up her eyes. She was pleased to be reunited with her sweet boy. Her delight grew as Oliver embraced his sister a moment later. She wished that the two siblings could heal the loneliness in one another.

* * *

Once Moira stopped hovering around Oliver, he retreated to his bedroom. As his mother promised, the room was just as he left it. It felt lonely. After the desolation that he often felt on the island, he had expected the company of family at home would eliminate his loneliness. Perhaps time would remedy his loneliness. With a gentle thud Oliver set down his wooden suitcase and thought about how to begin to heal his city.

A light knock interrupted his thoughts. Oliver turned to the door, hoping that it was not his mother returning to prattle on as if nothing were wrong. With a small sigh Oliver called, "Come in."

After a moment, Thea stepped into Oliver's room. "Hey," she said with trepidation. "I'm glad you are back."

Oliver sat back in his chair and released a slow smile. "So am I," and a little of the loneliness that he felt was released as he looked up at his sister.

For a minute the siblings enjoyed quiet contemplation together before Thea walked further into the room. She slowly traced the shelves lining the room with her finger, just as she did the day Raisa locked the door. Finally she turned around and showed Oliver the brass statue she was holding. "Do you remember this statue? It used to sit right here," Thea said while placing it back on the shelf. No longer making eye contact with Oliver, Thea spoke toward the wall in a nervous rush, "I know it sounds silly, but I took it from your room. I know it doesn't mean anything, I don't even know what it is. I just, I just wanted something of yours that I could keep. And so I kept this statue in my room so that I could have something of yours close to me."

Oliver had stood up and joined Thea to look at the statue. With gentle hands, Oliver lifted the statue off the bookshelf again. "I hope that it brought you comfort then," added Oliver quietly. And he turned and walked to his desk where he set the statue on the corner. "I will keep it here where I will see it. Thank you for telling me."

The two siblings embraced again before Thea retreated back to her room, pleased to have her brother back at home rather than remembering him only by the statue she had long ago taken from his room.

Oliver sat at his desk chair and contemplated the statue Thea had brought him. Why would she have chosen this statue out of everything in the room? It had a small pedestal supporting multiple circles overlapping to create an abstract globe. Bisecting the globe was an arrow. Oliver had not even remembered this statue while he was developing his skills as an archer, but it was oddly reassuring that Thea had chosen this object to remember him by.

Oliver's lips spread into a small smile as he adjusted the statue so that the arrow shaft could be seen in profile from his seat.

It was at that moment that Raisa peaked into Oliver's room and saw the tiny smile on his face. Before he spotted her she ducked back into the hall, pleased that Thea had obviously told Oliver the significance of that particular statue.

Author's Note: Check out Oliver's desk in his room, it really has this statue on it. Also, Thea's room has a trophy that appears to have a gold archer on it. Easter eggs!


	2. Chapter 2

Reconnecting

By MaryKent

Disclaimer: I don't own any aspect of Arrow the tv show. I do own an arrow. It's plastic.

Time. There was always more time.

He did not have a clock to watch the seconds go by, but he knew they did. Seconds ran together and became minutes. Minutes grew into hours. As the hours changed the sun would rise and set. Each month the moon would wax and wane. Time did not hold meaning anymore, it just passed.

Endless time. When Oliver first arrived on the island he would endlessly stare at Laurel's picture, her glossy hair, the little smirk that was frozen in the photo. Her image plagued his mind. If only he could go back in time. Change the past. But time does not stop. It does not go back. He was trapped with only a picture of Laurel. He could not apologize to Laurel, fix his mistakes, and realize how fortunate he was before. That single picture linked Oliver to his entire world, the world of privilege and prosperity that was torn away from him. It linked him to his family whom he loved even if he endlessly masqueraded as a playboy. The picture linked him to Laurel, which only reminded him of his failures and the tragedy that he inflicted on her entire family. She would hate him for his carelessness. She would be his past because surely there was not future with her. And so he wallowed while marooned on an island with increasingly more time separating his from everyone and everything at home. The future was bleak.

Without Yao Fei, Oliver would not have had a future. Yao Fei, with his relentless persistence changed Oliver. Once a spoiled boy, spoiled enough to take his girlfriend's sister on a cruise without thinking twice, Oliver became a survivor.

He put the picture of Laurel back into his wallet. He put aside the link to his home, his family, and the memories and faced the future, even if that future only consisted of breaking bird necks and resisting capture on a strange island.

Only the future is composed of abundant time. There were long nights spent in the cave waiting for daylight. His thoughts would drift back to home. On dark nights Oliver would look at the picture of Laurel and remember everyone he was separated from. He had already lost Laurel because he had killed her sister, but Thea, Tommy and his mom all tormented his consciousness, even his departed dad and the mission to save Starling City would haunt him at night. He would deny it any connection he felt to the familiar at home was important to Oliver while he sought to survive. Even while his body grew stronger, his skills improved, and his desire to survive bested his depression over losing all that was familiar, he longed to be reconnected with his family. His friends. His city. Instead time separated them just as much as geography.

But time is a fickle thing. Occasionally, the time that separates people and events can seem to vanish for an instant. Sometimes, freshly awakened from a dream, years of separation disappear and for those few moments before consciousness resumes. The mind reconnects you with those you dream about and you wake with a smile and wish fervently to remember the feeling of being reunited. But dreams are often fleeting. With time what seemed vibrant and close enough to touch becomes a vague memory.

When one is truly fortunate, you can reconnect with others through objects. Children understand. A favorite frayed blanket or a teddy bear with lumpy stuffing provide security and protection. That raggedy object is associated with their mother and the security of a mom's embrace. Kids outgrow the need for their blankies or teddies, but instead of throwing them out, they often store them away. Even years later, it can be hard to part with a treasured blanket or stuffed animal because of their sentimental value.

Oliver was drawn to a small stone. A hozen. A symbol of reconnection through time. Reconnecting to the days when it was Oliver and Thea watching Saturday cartoons in their pajamas. Reconnecting to his family like they would never be again with the four of them posing for the annual Christmas card in the pine scented mansion. Reconnecting to his childhood when he, Tommy, and Laurel made up their own trio of friends. There was no real logical reason for why this hozen was so important to Oliver or why it so strongly connected Oliver to his past, but it did. Perhaps the sturdy weight of the stone made the connection feel meaningful. Or maybe it provided as sense of safety because the arrowhead can be used as defense or as a weapon. Just the knowledge that Buddhist tradition teaches that a hozen will provide connections to good friends and family was sufficient to make this hozen important.

Yao Fei could see the connection that Oliver felt when he held the stone. Oliver would hold his head higher and his eyes would sharpen. Oliver treasured the glimpses of another time that he experienced when he touched the hozen. He would survive. The glimpses of the past and the people he knew there were a strength. When Oliver stared endlessly at Laurel's picture he was guilt ridden. But the connection to the hozen was not built on guilt. Its symbolism was pure and light and love. It provided hope, hope that one day Oliver would be reconnected with Thea and his family while ending his time in purgatory.

Those glimpses of another time are sacred. And so the hozen was sacred by extension.

* * *

The hozen did reconnect Oliver with his past. But time had changed everything that he remembered. Laurel was complicated. She ought to hate Oliver, but their relationship was too complicated to understand. Tommy was still Tommy, ready to move on as if nothing had happened at all. His mother had already reconnected and he was supposed to embrace a new patriarch in the family. Thea was the only person who was as lost as he was. She had grown up in the five years that Oliver was gone, but was lost without an anchor to guide her.

Oliver did not know how to simultaneously rejoin society, begin the mission his father sent him on, and be a decent role model for Thea. While he once thought that the hozen had served its purpose by reconnecting him with his old life, he now realized Thea needed to reconnect too. Giving Thea the hozen was not a mere gesture, it was a deeply sentimental gift, a gift to guide her back to him. Dealing with relationships was something Oliver had not done for years and yet he yearned for his familial bond with Thea. The bonds of family were so important. And Oliver was lonely, despite finally being surrounded by people, and he saw his loneliness reflected back in Thea's eyes. The hozen had brought him back to Starling City, now it could reconnect him with Thea too.

* * *

Defiled. Oliver defiled the hozen he gifted to Thea. Were once the hozen symbolized the reconnection between siblings, it now equated a piece of junk panda shot glass from the Beijing airport.

All Oliver wanted to do was promise to Thea that he was still there for her. Even with allegations of being the man in the hood, she would not lose him again. In the midst of party planning for an ill-themed rave, Thea was sitting there, alone, studying the arrow head. In an attempt to distract Thea from her own thoughts and loneliness, Oliver inadvertently knocked another leg out from under their relationship. Not only was Thea suspicious of Oliver's secrets, but she was connecting dots about Oliver's extracurricular activities. Instead of sharing with Thea, Oliver retreated. He retreated into his party boy facade and putdown himself. It was too soon, thought Oliver. No one can know my secret and remain safe.

Thea was right; Oliver wanted to share his secrets. He was on the right track when he shared his hozen. For a bit of time the siblings had that sentimental gift to reconnect them. Now they were back to being strangers to one another. Secrets and lies divided them.

Time. Time is a fickle thing. And relationships take time to develop, to nurture, to prosper.

Time reunited Oliver with Thea. Hopefully their relationship would not require years for them to find the courage to actually reconnect.


End file.
